Eminem didn’t ‘feel right’ using homophobic slur in new album
The 45-year-old came under fire for directing a homophobic slur at fellow rapper Tyler, the Creator in his new album 'Kamikaze'.
Eminem has revealed he didn’t “feel right” using a homophobic slur in his new album Kamikaze.
The 45-year-old rapper was slammed over social media for using a slur to insult fellow rapper Tyler, The Creator, calling him a “faggot bitch” in the track ‘The Fall’.
He raps: “Tyler create nothing, I see why you called yourself a f****t bitch / It’s not just ’cause you lack attention / It’s cause you worship D12s balls, you’re sacrilegious / If you’re gonna critique me, you better at least be as good or better”.
However, in a new interview with rapper Sway, Eminem claimed he may have gone “too far” with the lyrics, saying: “I think the word that I called him on that song was one of the things where I felt like, ‘This might be too far’.
“Because in my quest to hurt him, I realise that I was hurting a lot of other people by saying it. It was one of the things that I kept going back to and going, ‘I don’t feel right with this’.”
The rapper then explained that he felt he had to say something after Tyler insulted his 2017 single ‘Walk on Water’ because he didn’t want to let people think it was “safe” to say whatever they want about him. He also claimed he had felt angry when he originally used the slur against Tyler but felt “uncomfortable” when hearing it back.
Tyler, the Creator used the word ‘faggot’ almost 200 times in his 2011 debut album Goblin and has given mixed messages about his sexuality over recent years, claiming in 2015 to have been banned from the UK for his use of homophobic lyrics.
He later stated that he had a boyfriend at the age of 15, but back-tracked and claimed the comments were a “figure of speech”.
Meanwhile, Eminem’s also used homophobic lyrics in his songs. He called rival rappers “faggots” and “queer” in his 2000 song ‘Marshall Mathers’ and included the lyrics “Hate fags? The answer’s ‘yes'” in ‘Criminal’.
The title track ‘Kamikaze’ from Eminem’s latest album of the same name also features uncredited vocals from American singer Bon Iver.